Abstract

A caring and compassionate attitude toward the self (i.e., self-compassion) has been linked to various mental and physical health benefits. The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) is widely used in psychology literature in order to assess global self-compassion. However, recent evidence suggests that the single factor model comprising positive and negative items of the SCS in fact measures two distinct constructs (i.e., self-criticism/self-coldness and self-compassion) with different psychological correlates. Given these recent findings, in addition to other research that highlights cultural differences in self-conceptualizations and self-evaluations, the present study examined potential ethnic differences in the relationships between self-criticism, self-compassion, and perceived health. Participants included 728 college students (141 Asian American, 449 European American, and 138 Hispanic/Latinx individuals) attending a university in the northeast United States. Results indicated that the relationship between self-criticism and self-compassion was significantly different across ethnicity. In addition, the relationships between these two constructs (i.e., self-criticism and self-compassion) and perceived health were moderated by ethnicity. Our findings suggest that focusing on global self-compassion scores (i.e., total SCS scores) may miss some of the important cultural or ethnic differences in the relationships between self-criticism, self-compassion, and perceived health.

摘要

对自我的关怀和同情态度（即自我同情）与各种心理和身体健康益处有关。自我同情量表 (SCS) 在心理学文献中被广泛使用，以评估全球自我同情。然而，最近的证据表明，由 SCS 的正面和负面项目组成的单因素模型实际上测量了具有不同心理相关性的两个不同的结构（即自我批评/自我冷漠和自我同情）。鉴于最近的这些发现，除了强调自我概念化和自我评价中的文化差异的其他研究外，本研究还检查了自我批评、自我同情和感知健康之间关系中的潜在种族差异。参与者包括 728 名大学生（141 名亚裔美国人，449 名欧洲裔美国人和 138 名西班牙裔/拉丁裔人）在美国东北部的一所大学就读。结果表明，自我批评和自我同情之间的关系在不同种族之间存在显着差异。此外，这两种结构（即自我批评和自我同情）与感知健康之间的关系受到种族的调节。我们的研究结果表明，关注全球自我同情分数（即总 SCS 分数）可能会忽略自我批评、自我同情和感知健康之间关系中的一些重要文化或种族差异。结果表明，自我批评和自我同情之间的关系在不同种族之间存在显着差异。此外，这两种结构（即自我批评和自我同情）与感知健康之间的关系受到种族的调节。我们的研究结果表明，关注全球自我同情分数（即总 SCS 分数）可能会忽略自我批评、自我同情和感知健康之间关系中的一些重要文化或种族差异。结果表明，自我批评和自我同情之间的关系在不同种族之间存在显着差异。此外，这两种结构（即自我批评和自我同情）与感知健康之间的关系受到种族的调节。我们的研究结果表明，关注全球自我同情分数（即总 SCS 分数）可能会忽略自我批评、自我同情和感知健康之间关系中的一些重要文化或种族差异。